The present disclosure relates to methods for producing semiconductor laser elements.
As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. H08-222798 and 2006-290677, for example, a substrate having an orientation flat (OF) formed for a given crystal orientation identified by using X-ray diffraction, or the like, for producing a semiconductor laser element is known. Semiconductor laser elements are produced by forming semiconductor layers, electrodes, and so forth on such a substrate, and separating the elements into individual pieces by cleaving, or the like. Cleaving is performed by forming grooves on the wafer to assist cleaving, for example. However, the direction in which the wafer is to be split using the grooves, does not necessarily coincide with the cleavage plane of the substrate. Accordingly, PCT Application Publication No. WO 2007/074688, for example, proposes a method for correcting the splitting direction so that the wafer can be split roughly linearly even if it is not along the cleavage plane.